Second award for civil courage State of NRW Rescue Medal for Bonn resident

Bonn · Minister President Hendrik Wüst awards Ahmad Al Sheikh Hussein Kames the Rescue Medal. The man from Bonn saved the life of a man during a knife attack in 2020 on a public bus in Bonn. Today, Kames would do the exact same again.

For his exemplary and selfless actions, Minister President Hendrik Wüst awards Ahmad Al Sheikh Hussein Kames from Bonn the Rescue Medal of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. (archive photo)

For his exemplary and selfless actions, Minister President Hendrik Wüst awards Ahmad Al Sheikh Hussein Kames from Bonn the Rescue Medal of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. (archive photo)

Foto: Benjamin Westhoff

For his exemplary and selfless actions, Minister President Hendrik Wüst will award Bonn resident Ahmad Al Sheikh Hussein Kames the Rescue Medal of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia next Friday. This is not the first honour for the refugee, who came to Germany from Syria in 2016 and lives in Endenich. Among others, the Bonn police chief Frank Hoever has already honoured him, and Kames won the "XY" prize, an award given in connection with the programme "Aktenzeichen XY…ungelöst".

Because on 22 July 2020, he acted remarkably when he saved the life of a then 22-year-old in a bus of line 601. Near Bonn's main railway station, a man had suddenly attacked the victim with a knife. Kames managed to pull the much larger and heavier attacker away from his victim and hold him until the police arrived. Afterwards, Kames and other passers-by administered first aid until the arrival of the ambulance service. The seriously injured victim underwent emergency surgery and survived the attack. "I didn't think twice," Kames said when asked about his actions in November 2021. "It was a matter of seconds."

Words of praise from strangers on the street

He still feels that way today. Would he act the same way again in a similar situation? He doesn't have to think about it for long: "Of course, it's natural for me. It's all about humanity in such situations." He cannot explain the growing readiness for violence on the streets reported by the police - "and I have no understanding for it either.“

Since the incident two and a half years ago, his life has not changed much for him, Kames says. "It goes on, after all," he says. What is new, however, is that strangers recognise him on the street and approach him. "I never expected people to react like that," Kames says modestly. "They always tell me how great I did. I've also received similar feedback from friends and colleagues."

He is referring to his colleagues at Bonn University Hospital (UKB). There, Kames had been training to become a technical anaesthesia assistant at the time of the knife attack. In the meantime he has finished and is working at the UKB. Kames, who studied medicine in Syria until he fled, is very happy about this opportunity.

Equally great is his joy at being awarded the Rescue Medal. "When the letter from the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia reached me, I was happy. Police Commissioner Hoever had announced about two and a half years ago that he wanted to nominate me for this honour," Kames recalls. "Obviously he kept his word.“

Kames is still in contact with the man whose life he saved back then. And not only that, as Kames explains: "We are best friends now.“

(Original text: Jill Mylonas; Translation: Mareike Graepel)

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